Spirit of independence

Monica Gamble, 90, balanced responsibility, relationships in ‘fun, full life’

By: AV Kitching

Monica Gamble was a woman who knew her own mind.

Fiercely independent from a young age, Gamble is described by family and friends as warm, personable and in charge of her own life.

Originally from Swan River, Gamble left the Manitoba family farm for the bright lights of the city, after deciding rural life was not for her.

“She definitely controlled her own existence,” says her son Glenn. “She knew she didn’t want to pursue farm life, so she left at 16, rented a place in Winnipeg and went to business school here.

“She just came out on her own and did it. She was always very independent.”

It was that spirit that spurred Gamble to continue working even after she retired in the 1980s. The former payroll supervisor for the department of highways for the province took on several temporary jobs to keep herself busy.

In 1993, when Glenn and his business partner Brian Campbell opened their Winnipeg automotive shop, Ultimate Auto Service, Gamble readily agreed to work for three months to organize their bookkeeping.

She was there until 2015.

“She ended up staying for 22 years — she just really enjoyed it,” Glenn says. “Having her looking after everything was such an asset. Her being there was a further extension of our relationship.”

Mother and son were close; after Gamble’s second retirement, they continued to speak daily.

“I enjoyed the conversations … We were very much alike,” Glenn recalls. “We would talk every day on the phone. The thing I miss most is that I just can’t phone her to talk about something, anything. Something would happen, and I’d think, in that split second, ‘I want to tell my mom that’ and then you realize that you can’t do that.

“That was the hardest thing to get over.”

Born Jan. 21, 1933, Monica Margaret Hogg spent the first 16 years of her life on the family farm, which produced grain, lumber, livestock and poultry.

The homestead was several kilometres from the Big Woody schoolhouse where she was a student. In the winter, she would travel to school by horse and sleigh.

In 1949, she moved to Winnipeg and rented a house with some friends. One night at a party, she met Dick Gamble, who worked for the fire service.

They wed in 1954, and had two sons, Richard and Glenn. The couple were married for 42 years until Dick’s death in 1996.

Gamble died April 9 in Winnipeg at age 90.

“We had fantastic parents,” Glenn says. “We had a great family life.”

The family would go on camping trips when the children were younger, taking their trailer on the road. Later on, when her children were grown, Gamble and her husband would winter in Florida.

“When my dad passed, my mom would travel with her very good friend Laura Isbister. They did lots together — they had lots of stories and lots of giggles,” Glenn says. “Her and my mom would have the craziest adventures on the cruises they took.”

Isbister was 17 when she first met Gamble. The friendship with the woman she calls her “confidante and dearest, closest friend” started while working for the provincial government.

“Monica was getting ready to go on maternity leave when I started and she took me under her wing,” says Isbister, 70. “I was just a kid and she taught me from Day 1. She changed so much of my life.”

The duo, whose friendship spanned 52 years, would talk on the phone daily and see each other at least once a week. They took numerous cruises together, visiting sites such as Hawaii, Mexico, Alaska, Aruba, Barbados and Jamaica.

Isbister says Gamble was often the instigator of their adventures and remembers her as someone who was always up for a laugh.

They went whitewater rafting, swam with turtles, watched whales and went on helicopter rides. During one cruise, they decided to try snorkelling, but Isbister became wary at the last minute.

“I was terrified of getting into the water to snorkel and then I saw this foot — she had about a size 12 foot — on my back and she literally kicked me off the boat … Oh my God, that was what I needed,” she recalls with a laugh.

Gamble was a very much a people person. A woman who made friendships easily. A sympathetic listener who found strangers often opening up to her.

“People were always comfortable talking to my mom,” Glenn says. “She was just one of those people, it didn’t matter who you were, she could always connect with you.”

“She was very big on making friends, very caring and she really listened to people. She could sit down with anyone and talk about any subject … people just opened up to her,” Isbister agrees.

Age didn’t dim Gamble’s sense of independence or her practical nature.

As she grew older she decided to move to Parkway Retirement Community, giving up the condominium she and husband Dick had shared. As time passed, she decided to stop driving as well.

“We never had to coax her or worry about her; she knew what she was doing,” Glenn says. “She was always 100 per cent in control of her own life. She never stressed about things; she just knew what needed to be done and did it.”

During her time at Parkway, Gamble and Isbister’s visits became more frequent.

The friends would do everything together, from grocery shopping to visiting the hairdresser. They enjoyed going to Fionn’s on Grant Avenue, where they would talk for hours about everything under the sun.

“Monica had the hugest impact on my life, more than anybody else by a long shot,” Isbister says. “I wouldn’t have become the person I am without her — she was just a really good person. She had really good relationships with everyone.

“She was my closest, dearest friend and I miss her so much.”

After Gamble’s death, her family found her affairs were all in order. She had been practical right to the very end, even writing a list of who was getting which family heirloom.

For Glenn, this came as no surprise.

“If she were to write down how she wanted to leave this life, I bet you it would have been written down almost the same,” he says.

“She was a very responsible person with a great sense of humour. She liked to laugh, she liked to make jokes and she never took anything too seriously. She lived a fun, full life.”

passages@freepress.mb.ca